CP: Parks high whistles in black on the way

[jemtheflute]

Well, IMO the all-black definitely looks best. I don't like the cream at all anyway.

As for the shaping problem - try heat-moulding - a hot air gun will serve - just warm up your wind-way covering section of tube (no need to cut a slit in it), place/push it over a wooden or metal mandrel with a tapered nose but otherwise turned to the same OD as your turned-down windway tenon section (you'll have to make that, of course) and let it cool - it will then fit perfectly with correct curvature. But that's an extra manufacturing operation, of course. You could also/alternatively make your windway a few mm longer, so the whole beak is extended further above the window (which doesn't affect any sound-producing dimensions/parameters, SFAIK) and thus gain a longer and more supportive contact area.

[JTC111]

Well, IMO the all-black definitely looks best.

I think so too. The black is pretty sharp looking.

[cboody]

Yup all black looks best. I don't like the white color head on the Bb either. That said I'll take what Carey thinks will make the best sound and the most solid whistle.

[ecohawk]

Carey,

I liked the cream/black combo you used on the Bb. However, all black is really great too. In fact, after looking at the pic with your logo engraved there, I think I've come around and prefer the all black as well. Particularly if it gets this whistle in our hands faster!

ecohawk

[PhilO]

Carey - Also prefer all black, but with the white inlay in the logo.

Best,

Philo

[Carey]

Mouthpiece Methods

For a couple days I've been trying different approaches to making the mouthpiece for the black Every Whistle. It's not a case of how to make one, but rather how to make them in production mode. The more uniform the better, and the quicker the better.

I had made one whistle by simply splitting a section of pipe and slipping it over the head. This worked, but the pipe didn't really want to stay round when spread that much. It would go a little oval, and impact the windway height.

I was thinking of trying some heat to relax the plastic after splitting it to see if it came into a round section easily. Jem mentioned that the plastic can be expanded enough to fit over it's original OD with heat on a mandrel. So I bought a heat gun and had a go at several approaches.


Two mandrels

The first mandrel was made from aluminum bar and looked really nice all polished up to eliminate extra friction. The problem was, aluminum conducts heat really well, and the mouthpiece would cool as it was pushed over the mandrel, requiring heating one or two more times. The good news is the aluminum doesn't have a high specific heat, so it warmed up quickly and things worked pretty well once the mandrel was warm. I considered, and am still keeping on the back burner, fitting the mandrel to a heat source such as a soldering iron. It could be threaded on in place of the soldering tips. But that might be more work than it's worth.

I thought a Delrin mandrel might work better, leaving more heat in the mouthpiece. So I made one out of Delrin, and it did work a better. Good enough that it shouldn't be too hateful to make a couple dozen at a time. But it also worked nicely to split the mouthpiece and heat it on a mandrel to shape it for the whistle.

While I was trying different techniques to make the mouthpiece, I was trying different ways of finishing the whistles.



Here are three whistles with different treatment of the logo. The left one is painted with cream paint that matches the color of the CPVC I have locally. The middle one is simulating a gray paint. It is really polishing compound left in the engraved logo. The right one is as it comes from the engraver with no treatment by me at all.




Here is a more distant view of the whistles. The one in the middle was treated with sandpaper and steel wool while on the lathe to make a brushed finish going around the whistle. It reminds me of uni-directional carbon fiber or fiber glass. Not bad looking. Lighter than the native black color. The one on the right is a white color, and no logo in on that whistle because it is the original prototype.




Here's a long view of the various color and mouthpiece options.




Here you can see the second from the left has the split mouthpiece treatment.

They all play alike, so it's down to how it looks and how easy is it to make over and over again.

I think I'll take some time out from the mouthpiece R&D to lay out the finger holes and make playable whistles out of the ones made so far.

[JTC111]

I like the one to the left of the whistle with the white mouthpiece. I like how the logo really pops out and I like what looks like a smoother blacker finish on that whistle.

I feel like the kid in the back of the station wagon...
"Is it done yet?"

"Is it done yet?"
"Is it done yet?"

[benhall.1]

I'm with Jim. I think the brighter, cream paint in the logo is more you, somehow, Carey. It looks like a Parks whistle. A rather distinguished one.

[Carey]

Thanks for your support guys. Reflecting on that BMW whistle, I realize it is the negative of the cream Every with the (loosely) black logo and key.

[jemtheflute]

The cream logo fill certainly stands out best in the photos, Carey. I'm kinda an anti-cream person (except on desserts!) - e.g. magnolia house paint .... Why? Just, why? It just looks dirty/off to me - I go for pure, brilliant white every time! But for your whistles, you can guess what I'm going to say - a silver or gold, or even bronze metallic ink fill will look best, I'm sure.

The rubbed down whistle looks interesting, but I have to say my experience of this pipe is that it is best to avoid any lateral scarring - longitudinal is much better (looking), but of course can't be applied quickly and easily on the lathe. As for the head design, I think they look neater (and there's no unhygienic gunk-trap - food, dead skin etc.) without the split, though the split is not a major off-put-er.

Can I suggest you try a hardwood mandrel for your expansions? Also a tip - you can expand the pvc quite a lot while warm, but as it cools it shrinks a little, so having some sort of ramming ring to push cooled (and tightened on) pieces off the mandrel may be worth working into your design. Of course, you don't want to have to even slightly warm the pvc up again to release it as it will then shrink again beyond objective dimensions once off the mandrel and free. (If you reheat a previously expanded piece free, it will try to return to its original dimensions, but it is very reluctant to shrink beyond them.) These properties will, I think, militate against the heated mandrel idea as you'd have to wait for it to cool down before removing pieces.

[Carey]

Jem, you have obviously "been there done that." I have turned the ID out on a large washer, and the mandrel fits inside a section 3/4" CPVC which makes a sliding handle to keep the washer square to the mandrel while I eject the mouthpiece. I slowly reduced the OD of the mandrel so be sure the mouthpiece was exactly the size I wanted.

I think if I change my manufacturing process from making a batch of mouthpieces all at once to cutting them all at once and then expanding them one at a time as they are needed I can be filing and fussing with the whistle/windway while the mouthpiece is cooling and perhaps that cooling time won't be time lost to the process. Heating and expanding is similar in time to boring the ID or OD (depending on the whistle I'm making) so that's not an additional expense.

The good news is that I am 100% in control of the ID. With the white whistles I'm at the mercy of the factory as their ID is just what I need for the Every's. In fact I take a "checker" with me when I buy the pipe to avoid ones that have an ID larger than I can use. I have nightmares that they will change their process an only make large ID's some day. I'll have to try expanding a CPVC pipe and see how it behaves. It's a lot "harder" or "stiffer" than the black PVC.

I'd try it now but I'm trying to stay ahead of Jim...

[jemtheflute]

Good thinking/work! Of course, cooling can easily be hastened with cold water! I find the pvc cools to stable, dimension preserving temperature pretty fast even just in the ambient air. But if the mandrel is hot, either because it is heated to be the softening heat source or by absorption and storage of heat from the pvc segments as you work a batch....... then you'd have issues.

You can probably expand and stabilise a piece of pipe long enough to cut maybe 3 head covers from in one go, I'd guess, if you have your mandrel long enough. You can't do too long an expansion because of keeping the heating even etc. Also, there are advantages in cutting pieces to size after expansion as if you overdo it with the hot air gun the edges of a piece can distort or bake, and also the act of pushing it over the mandrel can compact and twist things a bit longitudinally - so I'd be inclined to expand first, then cut to size, or at least try that out.

[Carey]

Owll Korrect of course. Since I cut the tone ring from the mouthpiece, it works out to expand the mouthpiece/ring together, then part the ring off and finish the business end of the mouthpiece before installing it on the whistle.

That said, my method is to adopt the most straightforward way and then evolve the process as bumps are found or improvements are thought up along the way.

So, off we go....

[cboody]

Add me to shiny black with the creme logo. Very nice. No split mouthpieces though. I hope the mandrel thing works out well.

Thanks for keeping us all up to date (and salivating)

[Carey]

Just a quick note to mention that I've been off on other projects for a few days, gotta service the paying customers before doing R&D you know. But I also have been giving one of the prototypes some air time in the sessions (we have three weeklies now!) to see how I like it when used "in anger" as they say. So I'm learning about what it is that I created. I have a little adjusting to do. But it shouldn't be long. (He said, realizing these things are never certain.)